


A painful reunion

by 1TeaBinch



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Post Season 4, all of them need therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:08:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22889722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1TeaBinch/pseuds/1TeaBinch
Summary: Catra and Glimmer return to Bright Moon, after negotiating a "truce" the pair are brought back to Bright Moon, and Catra has rough time coming to terms with her actions.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 132





	A painful reunion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alettepegasus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alettepegasus/gifts).



> This is my first fic, originally posted on my tumblr, but i've copied it over here since finally making an AO3 account.
> 
> Shoutout to alettepegasus on here, who's ideas and encouragement basically led to me actually writing! Check out her fics if you have time!
> 
> Hope you like it!

It had been a little over a week since Horde Prime’s arrival on Etheria. The rebellion had regrouped, but there had been no signs of attack from the Horde. Confusion and paranoia were rampant. Horde Prime had arrived suddenly in Bright Moon, along with Glimmer, and… Catra? Even stranger was Glimmer’s decree that Horde Prime was here to study the planet, and that the Rebellion was to leave him and his forces alone.

After Horde Prime’s introductory speech, he returned to his ship, leaving Glimmer and Catra at Bright Moon.

Glimmers reunion with everyone was tearful and colored with relief, everyone just glad to see each other safe. Glimmer apologized profusely for not trusting Adora, and Adora reassured her that it was okay, that she understood that Glimmer just wanted to help everyone.

And then there was Catra…

She had been staying back from the moment they arrived, avoiding eye contact and doing her best to not be noticed. Especially after seeing how happy everyone had been during Glimmer’s reunion. Catra knew that no one would feel that way about her arrival. During the commotion she attempted to quietly leave the throne room, to hide from this painful proof that she had destroyed any chance of being cared about like that.

Catra thought no one noticed, but Adora did. She had been paying attention to Catra in her peripheral the entire time. As much as Catra had hurt her, she still cared.

Catra quickly realized that she had no idea where anything was in this place.

She also realized that even though Queen Glimmer had said to allow Catra regular access to the palace, not all of the residents would be so quick to accept her as a part of the rebellion.

And her expectations were confirmed.

“There she is, the little horde captain.” Standing in front of her was a small group of guards, glaring at her with disgust. Normally she would’ve snarled at them, but not this time, she deserved it. The guards began surrounding her, as she backed up against the wall, avoiding their gazes. “You have a lot of nerve showing your face here, after all of the people you hurt, and the lives you took. I bet the little captain is proud of her attacks on the rebellion. Aren’t you!?”

Once Catra would’ve torn apart anyone who spoke to her with even a fraction of that disrespect. But the guard was right, she was a monster, and she had relished her victories, once…

“I-I’m sorry… I made a mista-“ Her voice was cut off by an hand slamming her against the wall. “Mistake?! You slaughtered innocent civilians repeatedly! By mistake?!” The guards had backed her into a corner now. Fury in their voices and their eyes. She should be preparing to fight, but she didn’t have that in her anymore. Whatever punishment they were considering, she knew deserved it, and worse.

Catra’s senses started fading as she receded into herself. Leaving herself at the mercy of the guards.

“You think you can just come in here after everything you’ve done and we’d just accept you?!” The main guard had lifted her up by her collar.

After staring her down for a moment, the guard let her go. Clearly her lack of reactions had made them lose interest and the group of them shuffled away, mumbling angrily to each other.

Catra lay against the wall for some time, unaware that the guards had left. Her mind focusing on her increasingly dark thoughts.

“Hey, Catra.” A familiar voice snapped her out of her thoughts, shortly followed by a familiar hand extending toward her. “Adora.” She knew it was her.

Reflexively Catra folded into herself until the hand gently grabbed hers, lifting her to a standing position. “What-what are you doing on the floor?” Adora was rubbing the back of her neck, obviously nervous.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been on the same side, huh?” she was trying to her best to break the tension and the turmoil that had grown between them since everything, but Catra knew, she knew that things were different now, that whatever fondness there might’ve been, she ruined it.

“…Come on, let me at least show you your room.” The second their hands touched Catra violently recoiled. “Catra…” She avoided Adora’s gaze, which was fixed on her now, pain and worry in her eyes. It haunted her. Every time her eyes closed, she saw Adora, staring at her, eyes full of that pain.

Catra slowly started walking, and Adora took that to mean that Catra was going to follow her.

As Adora slowly walked Catra through the palace halls she began to give a sort of impromptu tour, hoping it might ease the tension. She pointed out the dining hall, the garden, war room, glimmer’s room, and then they arrived… “and this is my room, it’s a lot nicer than the ones in the horde so it might be weird to get used to, but it can be like old times!”

Adora was clearly trying very hard to act like everything could be the same, like Catra didn’t ruin everything.

Adora entered the room, and turned to Catra, who hadn’t moved. Catra took quick glances at Adora’s room. She saw training dummies and practice targets, as expected of Adora. She also so a few photos of Adora, Glimmer, and Bow. They were smiling and happy in the pictures. And it caused her heart to ache so painfully, she couldn’t stand it, and she ran.

“CATRA WAIT!” Adora ran to the doorway and reached for her, but Catra was gone.

She didn’t know where she was running, she hadn’t really payed much attention during the “tour” Adora gave her.

*CRACK*

Suddenly Catra was prone on the floor, wind knocked out of her. “Ow, watch it!” Glimmer stood above her, grabbing her by the hand and lifting her up. “What are you doing running in the halls Catra?”

“I-I… don’t know where my room is…” Catra replied, eyes looking at the floor, Catra really had lost all confidence in herself.

Glimmer had caught on to Catra’s emotional decline when they were on the ship, and she didn’t know what to do except to offer her an ear, if Catra wanted it. But she didn’t, Catra wanted to disappear.

“Come on, I’ll show you.” Glimmer said as she led Catra to a chamber a minute away. “Here it is, let me or the guards know if you need anything, we missed dinner, but food can be prepared if you get hungry”

“It’s fine, I’m not hungry.” Catra closed the door and did a once over of her new room. It was huge compared to the small bunk she had in the fright zone. Even small compared to her captain’s quarters. It had comfortable looking chairs and a couch, and a beautiful bed. There were multiple windows overlooking the whispering woods.

Catra was exhausted, she hadn’t slept much since… since she hurt the last friend she had. She looked at all the comfortable furniture in her new room, and instead she curled up in a corner, vacantly staring across the room. Her mind receding to that dark place once more.

She wasn’t sure if she had slept, or how long she simply sat there, but the next thing she remembered was a knock on the door. It was brighter outside, and the room was tinted a burnt orange.

Another knock.

“Catra? Are you planning on coming out? You haven’t eaten since yesterday morning, and that grey brick Horde Prime gave us really can’t be considered food.”

“I’m not hungry” Catra replied, her voice crackling and raspy from lack of use, and a definite lack of water.

“You sure? We’re having a small feast in an hour, there’s going to be a lot of delicious food.”

“It’s fine, I’m not hungry.”

There was silence for a moment, then the sound of Glimmer shuffling away.

She couldn’t help but remember Adora the day before. Trying to ease the situation, and that look, that painful stare into Catra.

Catra didn’t want to go anywhere, she didn’t want to do anything anymore, she just wanted to be alone, she can’t hurt anyone else this way, everyone else is better off with her here.

Another lapse, another knock at the door.

It was brighter this time, she assumed it was closer to noon, had it been another day? Or two? She couldn’t remember.

“Catra?” It sounded like Glimmer was back “You haven’t left your room in days, so I brought you some food and water, I’m going to leave it by the door. Please have some.”

Catra stood up, thinking about the intense hunger she felt, she was definitely beginning to starve now. She hadn’t eaten since they arrived, and if she was honest, she barely ate on the ship as well. But it didn’t matter. She didn’t matter. Instead she just relocated to one of the windowsills, where she curled up again, staring out at the woods.

She didn’t know how long she sat there, but if there were more knocks, she stopped hearing them.

This time there was no knock. Her door gently opened and shut.

In the quiet darkness Catra could barely make out the sharp inhale. “I’m fine, Glimmer.” She croaked out the words as she slowly turned to the door.

Adora.

Catra’s entire body froze at the sight, her eyes widening in fear.

“Catra, what’s going on?”

Adora had expected her to look rough, or to not even be in her room based on what Glimmer had told her. But she never expected this. Catra looked like she was wasting away. She was gaunt, and frail. Her body looked so weak, and her eyes. Her eyes were full of fear, but more than that, they were tired, sunken. It broke Adora’s heart to see someone she cared about, like this.

Adora set down the tray, “Catra, I know that we hurt each other, and I’m sorry, I’m sorry that I didn’t understand then, but we can start again.” She began slowly approaching the windowsill that Catra had been resting on, hoping that something, anything got through to her.

A quiet croak emerged from Catra, “Stop… leave me alone, I’ve done enough.” Her voice cracked painfully with every word, the dehydration making speech hard, and the adrenaline certainly wasn’t helping.

“Catra, please, you haven’t left your room in days, you haven’t been eating, you haven’t been drinking, please, talk to me, I’m so worried about you.” Adora was practically crying now, her heart broke at the thought of losing anyone else, especially her.

The aching in Catra’s heart only got worse, all she wanted was to stay away, to stop hurting people, hurting Adora. After all of the misery Catra caused her, why… why is Adora making it so hard to stay away.

“Adora, just forget about me, please, it’s not worth it. I’m not worth it.”

“NO!” Catra’s entire body recoiled, she scrambled back against the window desperately trying to widen the distance between them, to no avail. Her eyes finally met Adora’s. “I’ve lost so much, so many people have lost so much…” Catra shrank into herself, “Finally” she thought, Adora saw her the same way she saw herself, finally, she can stop hurting people. “But I don’t want to lose anyone else. Not Glimmer, Bow, Scorpia, and especially not you.”

Catra hadn’t realized until now, but Adora had been carefully getting closer to her this entire time, and as she emphasized that last “you” she grabbed Catra’s checks and looked her dead in the eyes. Catra wanted to see hatred there, or disgust, or anger, or anything other than this… heartbreak. Adora was always so strong, so brave, and in this dark bedroom, she looked crushed.

Finally, her subdued mask began to break. Her eyes wildly scanned over Adora’s face, trying desperately to grab for some look, some reason to recede into herself. But all she saw was a friend, a friend who was scared to lose her. For the first time in she didn’t know how long, Catra cried.

Her entire body screamed to run, every fiber of her being so scared of hurting Adora again. But when she saw way Adora looked at her, the pain in her voice, she couldn’t will herself to do anything except cry. As she did, Adora pulled her into a tight hug, crying with her.

“It’s okay Catra…” Adora whispered gentle reassurances in her ear. Relieved that her finally responded to her without that robotic mask. They both held each other for a while, coming down from the strong emotions.

Catra spoke first. “I just wanted to stop hurting people. All I’ve ever done, is hurt people. I can’t do anything else, I’m a curse. I just want it to stop, all of it to stop…”

In that moment Adora saw them, the specks of blood in Catra’s fur, they weren’t random, they were very targeted. She looked into her eyes again. “Oh, Catra, no.” She gently brushed the blood specked fur. “You’re not a monster.” Catra visibly flinched at the word. “You’re a victim of this whole terrible war, just like the rest of us.” She cupped her cheek again as she spoke, maintaining eye contact the entire time. She wanted Catra to know, to understand that she meant it.

“Shadow weaver, Hordak, the Horde, all of it twisted you, it twisted everyone.”  
“It might not justify what you did, but you can make amends, you can help still. You’re not a curse, you’re my friend.” The way Adora said it, Catra almost believed it, almost believed her.

“How?” Catra’s eyes were desperate and unfocused. Darting around for any sign of hope, anything she could do to help.

“You can start by eating, you can’t help us save Etheria if you can barely walk.” They both looked at the tray of food Adora left on the bed. “Come on, I’ll help you over.”

Gently she climbed off the windowsill, joints cracking and aching all over. As she took a step, her entire body collapsed.

“I gotcha.” Adora caught her easily, she really had lost a lot of weight.

Propping her up with one arm around her shoulder, Adora lead her over to the bed. Helped her sit down.

“Eat, drink, after that, a bath, because honestly, you don’t exactly smell like rainbows and sunshine right now.” Adora joked, a weak chuckle to try and lighten the tension. And it worked, Catra couldn’t help but give a weak grin. “Shut up, it’s not that bad.” She responded on instinct, a flash of her former self, and immediately started felt scared.

Until she heard that adorable giggle, followed by an unmistakable snort. A look of relief washed over her, maybe she didn’t have to hide.

Catra attempted to eat, but she couldn’t quite figure out when all of this was. The meat she recognized, it’s meat, everyone knows meat. But all this green stuff, leaves? Little red ovals?

“They’re vegetables Catra.” Adora was laughing a little louder now, obviously she found it a little funny that Catra didn’t know. “They’re good for you.”

Adora helped her eat, her strength made it very hard to move much at all.

She loved the food, it was all so delicious, even the weird ‘vegetables’ were pretty tasty.

Adora tried to make some more jokes throughout the meal, happy to see Catra responding positively to them.

“Alright, now that dinner is over with, let’s get you cleaned up.” Catra involuntarily hissed at the suggestion. Immediately she covered her mouth, terrified that she messed up again. But Adora just giggled a bit. “It’s okay.” She squeezed Catra’s shoulder gently to emphasize that point and her shoulders relaxed.

“But you really do need a bath.” Adora helped her up again. Guiding her to the door and through the halls.

What time was it even, Catra couldn’t remember, couldn’t tell, but it definitely felt like it was way too late for anyone to be awake.

“Why were you awake?” her voice quiet, barely a whisper.

Adora exhaled, a long, tired sigh. “Because I was worried, about you.” Her light smile turned more pained and Catra was scared again, scared that she was hurting Adora again. “I’m sorry, it was a mistake, I’ll leave you alone.” Catra all but blurted out the words.

But Adora held on tighter now. “No, that’s not what I meant.” Her expression turned puzzled, like she was trying to figure out the right way to say it.

“When you came back, a part of me hoped it would be just like before, you’d be your usual snarky self, and everything would be fine.” Adora chuckled, a low, bitter laugh. “But how could it be.” Fear rose in Catra’s chest, the urge to run only hindered by the fact that her body wouldn’t be able to manage it.

“But then I saw you. I saw the painful way you looked at me, at everyone. I knew it couldn’t be the same. That would be too easy, and relationships are never that easy.” Another pained smile, but this time she locked eyes with Catra.

“Glimmer told me about her the time on the ship. How you kept her safe, threw yourself into Horde Prime’s mind probing machines. How you didn’t sleep, or eat.” Tears formed at the corner of both of their eyes now.

“And when you arrived, she told me that whatever personality you had then, disappeared when Prime let you go. And I was so scared, scared to see you like that, because I know that’s not who you are. It hurts too much to see you in so much pain. But I had to do something. I’m not going to let you waste away, alone.”

The determination in Adora’s voice was overwhelming. “I’m not going to leave you alone ever again Catra.”

The rest of the walk was in silence, but eventually they arrived. Adora sat Catra down on the edge of the bath and got everything prepared. Bubbles included.

Catra, however, was utterly confused the entire time.

“What are you doing?” She asked quizzically.

“Oh, I’m getting the bath ready, it’s not like the Fright Zone where you just shower with cold water for 5 minutes. They have these tubs where you fill them up with hot water, and bubbles, and you just relax in them, it’s really calming.”

Catra still had an eyebrow raised like this had to be a terrible lie.

“Alright, bath’s ready, I’m going to be right outside the door, so take your time, and come out when you’re nice and clean, okay?”

“O-okay.”

And with that she was alone again, but she did hear the shuffle of someone sitting down right outside the door, so she got in the water. It was nice, strange, but nice. And it made her realize how tense she’d been. The heat relaxed her muscles and they ached like they’d been pulled taut for months.

She lay in the bath for a while. Occasionally calling out “Adora?” And every time she received a gentle “I’m here Catra.”

After what felt like days she got out and realized, she didn’t have a clean pair of clothes.

Adora apparently thought ahead “By the sink. I found some stuff that was kind of close to what they had in the Fright Zone.”

She got dressed and peaked out of the door.

“Ready to go?” Adora stepped into her view as she hummed the question.

“Y-yeah.”

Catra didn’t make it far, her body was frail to begin with, but now that she was so much more relaxed, it was hard to stand, much less do anything else. “Sorry, about that.”

“I have an idea.” Adora said quickly, a slight smirk growing across her face. She lifted Catra into her arms. “What’re you doing!? Put me down.” Catra was flailing weakly in her arms, another spark of who she was.

“Well, if you can’t walk, I’m going to have to carry you.” Adora teased her and gave her that cheeky grin.

Catra was definitely flustered now. She muttered a quiet ‘thank you’ and quieted down.

By the time they got back to her room, Catra had fallen asleep. For the first time in weeks she looked peaceful. Adora layed her down in her bed, but as she pulled away, Catra’s claws gripped her tightly. With a soft smile she climbed into bed. Catra instinctively curled up against her.

Maybe it could be a little like back then after all…


End file.
